Academy Award-winning actress Hayley Mills (star of such Disney classics as Pollyana, The Parent Trap! and In Search of the Castaways) addresses the Arizona Girl Scouts, Cactus Pine Council, at their first annual "Pollyanna Days" celebration.

1805:

Writer Hans Christian Andersen - known for his many classic fairy tales including

"The Ugly Duckling," "The Little Mermaid" and "The Little Match Girl" - is born in Odensk,

on the Danish island of Funen, Denmark. Andersen’s fairy tales of fantasy with moral lessons are still

popular today with children and adults all over the world.

1899:

Disney Legend (class of 1999), film pioneer & engineering wiz Bill Garity is born in

Brooklyn, New York. He will help put sound into Steamboat Willie, perfect the multiplane camera - a device

(first created by Ub Iwerks) used to give depth to animation, and co-invent Fantasound (along with sound mixer John

Hawkins) - an innovative stereo system installed in theaters for Fantasia - now known as surround sound.

Walt states that the TV series will begin in October 1954 and the park will open in July 1955.

The TV show will be patterned after the different "lands" of his new California theme park.

Disney and ABC sign an agreement regarding the building of "Disneylandia." ABC advances Disney $500,000 in cash and guarantees all bank loans. In exchange, ABC receives 35% ownership of Disneylandia, 100% of all profits from the park's food concessions for 10 years, and an 8-year commitment from Disney for use of its library of films to be aired as one-hour television programs.

1967:

Walt Disney's final introduction on his Wonderful World of Color TV series airs. (Walt had

died less than 4 months earlier and there will be no regular host for the remainder of the anthology's original run.)

This evening's episode - A Salute to Alaska with Ludwig von Drake.

1974:

"The Way We Were" (written by Marvin Hamlisch and Alan & Marilyn Bergman) from the film The Way We Were beats out "Love" (written by George Bruns and Floyd Huddleston) from Disney's Robin Hood at the 1973 Academy Awards.

1975:

Deedee Magno, a member of Disney Channel's The All New Mickey Mouse Club (and a member of the Broadway cast of "Miss Saigon") is born in Virginia.

1977:

The New Mouseketeers appear at Disneyland for the first day

of a series of live Easter Week shows.

1982:

Disney re-releases Fantasia for the 8th time since its 1940 original release. The soundtrack has been digitally re-recorded making it

the first motion picture with digital stereo sound.

1984:

Tokyo Disneyland welcomes its 10-millionth guest - just 2 weeks short of the park's first anniversary!

1997:

At a ceremony in Manhattan, Disney CEO Michael Eisner, Rudi Giuliani the

mayor of New York City, and George Pataki the governor of New York State, unveil Disney's restored New Amsterdam Theatre (at 214 West 42nd

Street). First built in 1903, the theater will become the home to such productions as The Lion King

and Mary Poppins.

2001:

Spectromagic returns to the Magic Kingdom after a 2-year hiatus at Walt Disney World. The parade features an array of flowing fiber optics; holographic images, liquid-nitrogen smoke; and old-fashioned twinkle lights, precisely choreographed to an exciting original soundtrack which uses dashes

voices behind a large digital screens, while computer-rendered monsters appear with the actors' voices. Movable

cameras are used by performers backstage to locate guests with whom they would like to interact. A Disney cast

member in the theatre will then take a microphone to the selected guest so that the guest can talk to the performers!

2004:

Disney's 44th animated feature Home on the Range is released. Set in the old west, the plot centers on a mismatched trio of dairy cows (voiced by Roseanne Barr, Judi Dench and Jennifer Tilly) who must capture an infamous cattle rustler. Many believe it will be the last hand drawn Disney film.

The Disney Worldwide Conservation Fund (DWCF) helps to protect and study some of the

world’s most endangered plants, animals and habitats. To date the DWCF has contributed

over $12 million to non-profit conservation and animal welfare organizations supporting

projects in 110 countries.

1993:

At Disneyland, the Aladdin's Royal Caravan parade steps off for the first time.

The Walt Disney Pictures live-action feature film The Adventures of Huck Finn opens

in theaters. A retelling of Mark Twain's classic novel of a young boy's adventures after he escapes from his

abusive father, and his relationship with a runaway slave, it stars Elijah Wood as Huck.

Singer Aaron Kelly, a 2010 American Idol contestant, is born in Pennsylvania. Kelly was

a participant in the American Idol Experience at Disney's Hollywood Studios at WDW. At the end of the day he was

the highest vote recipient in the finale show, which entitled him to receive the dream ticket - which got him to the

front of the line for the real American Idol auditions in Orlando in June of 2009! On May 5, 2010, Kelly was

eliminated from American Idol - finishing fifth place in the competition but making him the youngest contestant to

make it through to the Top 12.

1986:

Singer Lee DeWyze, the winner of the ninth season of American Idol and the 3rd Idol to shout "I'm Going to Disney World!" in the famous Disney TV commercial, is born in Mount Prospect, Illinois.

"We've done things ... most of them Walt's ideas, that looked impossible at first." -Bill Garity

2011:

Disney Imagineer Collin Campbell passes away at age 84 in Florida. Starting out in Disney's animation department, he worked on such features as Lady and the Tramp and One Hundred and One Dalmatians.

But it was Campbell's distinctive paintings (as an Imagineer) of the Jungle Cruise, Pirates of the Caribbean, and the Haunted Mansion that played an important role in the attractions' conceptualization and design. He is credited with

the lush landscape painted inside the lid of the famous harpsichord which sits in the secretive Club 33 in Disneyland. Campbell was also instrumental in the design of Walt Disney World's EPCOT Center, working on popular attractions

such as the Horizons Pavillion. Collin's considerable contributions to Disney had been recently acknowledged with a monument in the new interactive graveyard recently added to The Haunted Mansion at WDW's Magic Kingdom.

2012:

Sony Electronics announces it has teamed up with Walt Disney Parks and Resorts to

promote its latest line of Handycam® camcorders in a new integrated marketing campaign

that focuses on capturing and sharing family memories. The "Share Magical Memories" co-branded

campaign kicks off with a unique online contest and dedicated website hosted by Disney Interactive at